Britain’s manufacturers have had a decent end to the year, but a tough global economic backdrop is making life difficult for UK exporters, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has said.

Domestic demand helped push order books to a four-month high in December, while car production and plastics manufacturing drove a rise in output over the past three months. Export order books remained weak however, reflecting the extent of the challenge facing UK companies trying to sell their goods to struggling economies.

Rain Newton-Smith, the CBI’s economic director, said: “The manufacturing sector is ending 2014 on a more upbeat note, having lost a little momentum earlier in the year. However, the otherwise solid outlook for UK manufacturers is tempered by a challenging global backdrop. With eurozone growth disappointing and some emerging markets facing a tough time, firms need to look harder for opportunities to ramp up exports to high-growth sectors across the globe.”

George Osborne, the chancellor, has repeatedly urged British companies to seek new export markets beyond Europe and US, to try to capitalise on the rising wealth in some of the fastest-growing economies, such as China. However, export growth has lagged behind expectations, and the British Chambers of Commerce has warned that at current rates of progress the chancellor will miss his target, set in 2012, of doubling UK exports to £1tn by 2020.

Of the 485 manufacturers surveyed by the CBI for its December industrial trends survey, 25% said total order books were above normal and 19% said they were below normal, . The positive balance was the highest since August, and beat City expectations.

“The upbeat tone of the survey provides an encouraging signal that manufacturers can grow despite the stronger pound and weak eurozone,” said Paul Hollingsworth, UK economist at Capital Economics. “Robust growth in domestic demand should ensure that the recovery in manufacturing rebuilds some steam in 2015.”